Cape Cod shark attack victim was engaged, loved surfing

SHARE Cape Cod shark attack victim was engaged, loved surfing
ap18258793522288.jpg

Two signs at the top of the dune at Newcomb Hollow Beach alert visitors that the beach is closed to swimming, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018, in Wellfleet, Mass. A Revere man died after being bitten by a shark off Newcomb Hollow Beach on Saturday. | Merrily Cassidy/The Cape Cod Times via AP

WELLFLEET, Mass. — A 26-year-old man who was killed in a shark attack off a Cape Cod beach had been a part-time engineering student who was engaged to be married and loved surfing and other outdoor activities, according to friends and school officials.

Arthur Medici, of Revere, Massachusetts, was bitten by a shark Saturday while boogie boarding off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet and later died at a hospital. He was the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years and the second attack victim this summer on Cape Cod.

The beach remained closed to swimming Sunday. Flowers were placed at the base of a sign that said “No swimming surfing etc. until further notice,” but some people were paddleboarding in the water, the Boston Herald reported.

A shark was spotted several miles south of Wellfleet on Sunday, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

Medici was a part-time engineering student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston last spring, the school said in a statement Sunday. It did not provide any other information about his studies including why he wasn’t enrolled in the current semester. The school offered condolences to Medici’s family and friends.

He moved to the U.S. from Brazil two years ago to attend college, friends told WCVB-TV.

A GoFundMe page set up by family and friends to cover funeral costs had raised more than $16,000 as of Sunday afternoon.

“Arthur was a very happy young man,” said a posting on the page. “He loved life, he was an active member of a Christian church, devoting his life to the Lord. … He loved hiking, biking, surfing and various other sports. … He was always joyful and willing to help others, even going as far as feeding the homeless.

“He was happily engaged to a smart, kind-hearted medical student with a bright future,” it continued. “Our lives are never going to be the same without him. His laughter filled our home and he will be greatly missed by us all.”

There also was an outpouring of condolences on his Facebook page.

People look out at the shore after a reported shark attack at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Mass, on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. A man boogie boarding off the Cape Cod beach was attacked by a shark on Saturday and died later at a hospital, becoming the

People look out at the shore after a reported shark attack at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Mass, on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. A man boogie boarding off the Cape Cod beach was attacked by a shark on Saturday and died later at a hospital, becoming the state’s first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years. | AP Photo/Susan Haigh

RELATED: Police: Man dies in the aftermath of Cape Cod shark attack

Medici had worked at The Capital Grille restaurant in Burlington, just outside of Boston, and left the job more than a year ago, restaurant spokesman Rich Jeffers said.

“Just like everybody else, we’re shocked and saddened,” he said. “It’s just terrible.”

Medici was attacked around noon as he and a friend were boogie boarding. The friend dragged him ashore, and people on the beach attempted life-saving measures including CPR and applying tourniquets. He was taken to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, where he was pronounced dead.

On Aug. 15, a 61-year-old New York man was severely injured after fighting off a shark off Truro, about 4 miles north of Saturday’s attack. He’s currently recovering in a Boston hospital.

Saturday’s attack was the third fatal shark attack in the world this year, with the other two occurring in Brazil and Egypt, according to Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

There have been 39 confirmed unprovoked shark bites worldwide this year, including 22 in the U.S., most of them on the East Coast, Naylor said.

The Latest
Only two days after an embarrassing loss to lowly Washington, the Bulls put on a defensive clinic against Indiana.
One woman suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. In each incident, the four to five men armed with rifles, handguns and knives, approached victims on the street in Logan Square, Portage Park, Avondale, Hermosa threatened or struck them before taking their belongings, police said.
For as big of a tournament moment as Terrence Shannon Jr. is having, it hasn’t been deemed “madness” because, under the brightest lights, he has been silent.
This year, to continue making history, the Illini will have to get past No. 2-seeded Iowa State.